F150 Lightning service manual

[Texas Dan]

I used this website to buy a service manual for my last EV, Ford F-150 Repair Manuals (factory-manuals.com) . The website has the unique feature of being able to tailor a service manual based on the VIN. So, even though the Lightning is not specifically listed on the website, the website should be able to generate a service manual for the Lightning.

No, I have not tried to create a service manual from the website for my Lightning yet, but I plan to before I perform my 10k mile maintenance. My experience trying to get dealerships to perform the routine maintenance checks on an EV has been dismal so I'm currently planning to perform my own maintenance. It may sound like overkill to get a service manual just to perform routine maintenance, but experience has also shown me that even performing routine maintenance tasks correctly, like checking the reduction gear oil, can be challenging without a service manual.

If you download a service manual before me or if you know of another link where you can download or purchase a service manual for the Lightning, please provide a post with feedback.

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[COrocket]

Were there any tasks specifically that you had questions on? Someone might be able to chime in who's done a Lightning before. I just helped a family member do their 10,000 service on a Mach E, and the Lightning tasks looks similar when mine reaches that point. Seemed doable without a service manual since it was a tire rotation and some visual inspections.

 

[Texas Dan]

Were there any tasks specifically that you had questions on? Someone might be able to chime in who's done a Lightning before. I just helped a family member do their 10,000 service on a Mach E, and the Lightning tasks looks similar when mine reaches that point. Seemed doable without a service manual since it was a tire rotation and some visual inspections.

Doing maintenance correctly is way too complicated to do without a service manual. Just simple things like torquing skid plate bolts correctly requires more information than is available from the owners manual. Other things that are really simple when you have a service manual, like checking reduction gear oil, become a major endeavor when talking to a maintenance technician that doesn’t even know what a reduction gear is.

 

[davehu]

I used this website to buy a service manual for my last EV, Ford F-150 Repair Manuals (factory-manuals.com) . The website has the unique feature of being able to tailor a service manual based on the VIN. So, even though the Lightning is not specifically listed on the website, the website should be able to generate a service manual for the Lightning.

tried your link and looked everywhere. didn't see the Lightning listed and could NOT find any place to search using a VIN

 

[Texas Dan]

tried your link and looked everywhere. didn't see the Lightning listed and could NOT find any place to search using a VIN

It doesn’t work that way. First you “purchase” the manual for the F150 for your year model. After you purchase the manual you will be allowed to enter your VIN and the website will “create” a service manual specifically tailored to your VIN.

If your worried about not getting the correct manual you can call the website customer service with your questions but, considering this manual only costs $99.99 and a hard copy service manual if you can get one will cost several times that, you really aren’t risking much.

 

[davehu]

It doesn’t work that way. First you “purchase” the manual for the F150 for your year model. After you purchase the manual you will be allowed to enter your VIN and the website will “create” a service manual specifically tailored to your VIN.

If your worried about not getting the correct manual you can call the website customer service with your questions but, considering this manual only costs $99.99 and a hard copy service manual if you can get one will cost several times that, you really aren’t risking much.

thx!

 

[Texas Dan]

Just to give some information on how detailed these manuals are, I bought one of these manuals for my 2019 Kia Niro EV less than a year after I bought it new. The manual not only gave complete instructions on how to remove the high voltage battery pack but provided instructions on how disassemble the pack and how to find and replace bad individual battery cells. I expect the same level of detail for a F150 Lightning service manual.

 

[astricklin]

Chilton service manuals are available online and many schools and libraries pay for access. I don't see the lightning or even newer f-150 available yet but I have used it recently for my Toyota and my older mercury mountaineer. Hopefully they'll get the lightning in there soon.

https://link.gale.com/apps/CHLL

 

[RickLightning]

I think if you look into it, the company is basically logging into Ford's system to pull the manual, falsely identifying themselves as you with your vin, then printing the specific manual. In short, it's not legit, or probably legal.

 

[Akbrian]

Highly doubt this this the manual for lightning. I bought one from them for 2019 F150 and it was okay. Included everything, except none of the hyper links worked and wasn’t bookmarked which is a pain in a 16000page plus document. Plus the file was super large so would take forever to load.

The manual was legit but the whole thing was sketchy, they customized by adding you Vin to the file name and in broken English explained how if you shared the manual they had special tracking software that would find you and take all your money for copyright violations. I came to the conclusion after seeing what I got that they legally or perhaps illegally obtained a copy and are reselling.

 

[Texas Dan]

The Chilton service manuals and all the other auto parts store service manuals suck. I always go for the manufacturer service manuals if I can get my hands on them but they are getting harder and harder to get. The factory-manuals.com manuals are the best I’ve seen that didn’t come directly from the manufacturer and the manuals are available soon after the cars come out which is a big deal for service professionals and owners that work on their own cars.

I still have several factory service manuals lying around for cars I’ve owned over the years. They each have several volumes and cost me several hundred dollars a piece but they paid for themselves many times over. The factory-manuals.com manuals give me the information I need and don’t take up an entire bookshelf.

I don’t know where factory-manuals.com gets their information and I don’t really care as long as I get the information I need. My thinking has always been that factory-manuals.com takes advantage of new publication technology to generate badly needed service manuals for service professionals. Factory-manuals.com has been around for years and I really think that, if they were stealing information from the manufacturers, the manufacturers would have shut them down a long time ago.

 

[Maxx]

I used this website to buy a service manual for my last EV, Ford F-150 Repair Manuals (factory-manuals.com) . The website has the unique feature of being able to tailor a service manual based on the VIN. So, even though the Lightning is not specifically listed on the website, the website should be able to generate a service manual for the Lightning.

No, I have not tried to create a service manual from the website for my Lightning yet, but I plan to before I perform my 10k mile maintenance. My experience trying to get dealerships to perform the routine maintenance checks on an EV has been dismal so I'm currently planning to perform my own maintenance. It may sound like overkill to get a service manual just to perform routine maintenance, but experience has also shown me that even performing routine maintenance tasks correctly, like checking the reduction gear oil, can be challenging without a service manual.

If you download a service manual before me or if you know of another link where you can download or purchase a service manual for the Lightning, please provide a post with feedback.

Since you posted this in June, would you please share your experience if you have purchased the manual already?

 

[Box Cat]

The footnotes at 2023 Ford F-150 repair manual - OEM Factory Service Manual (factory-manuals.com) may shed light on their business model:

* For each customer, we pay a Ford Subscription, and using your right to repair, we save the files for your exact car.
** The copyrights of these manuals are Ford CO property, and you are responsible for that. Each manual is unique and can be identified by Ford.

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